Hell has officially frozen over! Nancy T. has found a GOOD DOC!!!!!

Yes, this fresh young whippersnapper of a family practice doc is going to be my doctor forever! (I hope.) I was right--the very new doctors are still actually paying attention to their patients!

Not only did he ask me more questions at my appointment today--and examine me, which hasn't been done for MANY years--I left the office with a referral for ENT, PT, follow-up bloodwork (for cholesterol/meds), and the little stool-testing cards and sigmoidoscopy order (the last two are yuck, but at least this doctor noticed that I'm past 50--my internist was not on the ball about ANYTHING except the BP and cholesterol). They checked up on EVERYTHING!!

When I told him about the walking problems, he tested the range of motion in my hips and knees (NO doctor EVER did this--not even the rheumatologist to whom I complained about this) and gave me a PT referral--WOW!!! Maybe, after 7 years, someone will finally TRY to figure it out, instead of saying "you're just deconditioned" or "bursitis", neither of which made sense, but they weren't listening...

This guy is so bright, nice, efficient (types everything into the computer right there in the room--Kaiser really has its act together, I'm VERY impressed with their whole system), and is seriously addressing all my concerns and requests. With nary a hint of smirk, not a hint that he knows what's going on with me before I open my mouth (like previous doctors). Straightforward and helpful, like a real doctor!!

Is this possible?? I had given up thinking so, after going through five PCPs in nine years, all of whom were either totally uninterested (1), arrogantly presumptuous (1), had blinders on (2), couldn't be reached or relied upon (2), didn't talk to me or let me talk because they thought I was a hypochondriac (3), and one who was a semi-airhead.

Right now I could even believe in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and a balanced federal budget! Well... the first two, anyway.

Tante: Actually I do not blame the ENT department for leaving me with the impression that the BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid) would likely be covered--I was just trying to feel them out on the phone (since the membership department wouldn't tell me anything), and they had no authority to promise me anything, I knew that. ("Bait and switch" was the wrong term for me to use--it was just the mood I was in when I posted that.) The policy may have changed since I talked to them last year anyway. In any case, I'm seeing the ENT March 11 and will hope to find something out.

The BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid), developed in Sweden where "hearing aid" is not anathema to insurance companies, is now called things like "bone-anchored implant" or "bone-anchored hearing system". Here's a link to the US manufacturer that bought out (?) Entific, the Swedish developer:
http://www.cochlearamericas.com/Products/2013.asp

My hearing loss is strictly one-sided, being normal up to 500 Hz and then waterfalling down to a 75-110 Hz loss, which is bad enough that I have very poor speech discrimination in that ear and would not be helped by a regular hearing aid. The loss occurred in 1999 when I sneezed hard one day. Cause unknown, but obviously something traumatic happened in my inner ear.

Well, what a day it's been! I feel like I won the lottery!! A huge psychological burden has been lifted, after many horrible years of awful internal churning, the doctors' attitudes literally eating away at my insides. Everything is different--just because someone listened--really listened, and addressed things with me in a straightforward and proper way.

Good luck to everybody, undiagnosed and diagnosed... feel better and good luck with new treatments!

Nancy T.